On the corner of Panther Hollow Rd. and Bartlett St. in Pittsburgh's Schenley Park, colorful benches seem to guard the intersection. 90.5 WESA's Katie Blackley explores where the benches are made and who paints them.

On the corner of Bartlett Street and Panther Hollow Road in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park, there’s a colorful, decorated bench. Depending on the season, it could be painted like an American flag, covered in shamrocks or decked out for the Buccos.

Shortly after Connor Sites-Bowen moved to Pittsburgh in 2004, he got a little lost trying to get to Greenfield.

“I stopped and asked someone, I said, ‘I’m trying to get over here, which way do I go?’” Sites-Bowen said. “He said, ‘Oh, you go across the Greenfield Bridge right here and you go left where the Bruster’s used to be.’”

It was the “used to be” that stuck with Sites-Bowen. He said just like in any city, people rely on landmarks to get from one place to another, but in Pittsburgh, it doesn’t matter if the landmark exists anymore.

The Pittsburgh International Airport is seeking an artist-in-residence for a year-long program to culminate with a new piece of art for the airport.

The chosen artist will spend between 8 and 16 hours, or more, at the airport each week. He or she will be tasked with getting to know the layout, the facility, the employees and the travelers. The piece is intended to shine a light on the Steel City, said airport spokeswoman Alyson Walls.

Players arrived at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe this week for the start of Steelers training camp, but running back Le'Veon Bell did not. He's in the middle of negotiating a franchise contract with the team, but is feeling pressure from his teammates.

The five-day event kicks off Friday morning at Row House Cinema with Drag Queen Storytime followed by a screening of the 1984 movie "Muppets Take Manhattan." The schedule includes other films and activities to promote acceptance and inclusion - all taking place at Row House Cinema and some take place during morning hours or mid-day.

On Thursday evening, more than 60 people gathered at the Union Project in Highland Park to learn how to safely intervene in incidents of bullying or harassment. The event was organized by the local chapters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, and Jewish social justice group Bend the Arc.

After a three-year search, the board of the August Wilson Center For African American Culture named its new president and CEO Thursday. Janis Burley Wilson, who is not related to the center’s namesake, has overseen programming at the center since the Cultural Trust took over temporary operation two years ago.

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said Burley Wilson’s hire means the conversation is no longer about saving the center, named after Pittsburgh Playwright August Wilson.

Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble performs works that are hard to describe, like an amalgam of Mozart and Frank Zappa.

And at City Theater, on the South Side, the group is pairing its music with an art gallery showcasing large colorful canvases and sculptures carefully chosen to be displayed on stage during this summer’s performances.

It’s a multi-sensory experience. After one recent concert, Harry Hockheiser, of Squirrel Hill, explained how he enjoyed the combination of mediums.

For most of the history of Pittsburgh, elected officials have been white men. But in 1956, then-Mayor David L. Lawrence did something unheard of: he appointed a woman to City Council.

That woman was Irma D’Ascenzo, an Italian-American Hazelwood resident who was working as secretary and chief examiner for the city's Civil Service Commission. Throughout World War II, and in the years following, she’d been volunteering and was active in her community.

D’Ascenzo’s great-granddaughter, Jeanne Persuit, said Lawrence recognized that rising to council was a natural step for her.

Andrew Carnegie had a personal bagpipe player on his payroll and the university that bears his name shows its Scottish roots through its signature green and red tartan plaid and mascot, Scotty.

Those are not the only ways Carnegie Mellon University upholds its Scottish heritage. Tucked deep in the halls of CMU’s University Center is a small room packed with bagpipes and drums. It’s where Andrew Carlisle has had his office for the last seven years.

George Romero, whose classic "Night of the Living Dead" and other horror films turned zombie movies into social commentaries and who saw his flesh-devouring undead spawn countless imitators, remakes and homages, has died. He was 77.

Drivers will take to the streets of Pittsburgh this weekend for the city’s 35th annual vintage grand prix races, which will start on Saturday in Schenley Park. The 10-day event includes car shows, parades and the main event, vintage car races through the park.

Take a walk through downtown or the North Shore and it seems everything, from Pirates caps to government buildings to Heinz Field, radiates black and gold. The colors are synonymous with Pittsburgh sports and culture.

A chandelier full of high heels and beads hangs above a cheetah print rug and gold wallpaper, which now adorn the window of Future Tenant on Penn Avenue. Throughout the gallery hang various mirrored balls and pictures. It’s all part of an exhibition opening examining the influence of disco on modern culture.

New York-based curator and Hampton Township native Emily Colucci said disco is generally seen as superficial, but she contends there is value to exploring disco’s aesthetic and cultural impact.

It’s easy to keep track of time from most streets downtown: the Allegheny County Courthouse chimes play every 15 minutes, as well as strike the hour; twice a day they sing.

“Noon and five,” said Jim Reardon, the county’s director of facilities management. “It counts off whatever hour it has to be ... and then we play a particular song, whichever song is picked for that day.”

As an Oscar- and Tony Award-winner and one of the leading Shakespearean actors of his day, Mark Rylance knows a great story when he hears one.

He's captivated these days by the story of the historic 1892 Homestead Strike, when thousands of steel workers and townspeople clashed with Pinkerton guards hired by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie and industrialist Henry Clay Frick to end a labor dispute that turned deadly.

Penn State University is suing former assistant football coach Bob Shoop for breach of contract, alleging he owes the university nearly $900,000.

According to the lawsuit filed in June, Shoop was required by contract to pay the university half his base salary for any remaining term if he decided to leave early. He was contracted through February 2018, but Shoop resigned in January 2016 to become defensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee.

Penn State is seeking $891,000 with additional interest and court costs.

"Wild," the first solo exhibition of photography by Michael "Nick" Nichols features photographs of gorillas, tigers, lions and elephants in their natural habitat - serenity, ferocity, and curiosity.

For decades, Nichols has been on the run as a National Geographic photographer, traveling to remote parts of the world hauling robots, infrared gear, computer monitors, drones - whatever it took to get as close as possible to an animal on its own turf.

Law enforcement responded to a fire this weekend at one of West Virginia’s most recognizable landmarks.

Officials said guests at the Seneca Rocks area of the Monongahela National Forest set off fireworks that sparked a blaze around the Lower Slabs climbing area at around 10 p.m. Saturday. The fire and its plume were still visible through the wee hours Monday morning.

John Tumpane can't explain why he approached the woman as she hopped over the railing of the Roberto Clemente Bridge on Wednesday afternoon.

The woman told Tumpane she just wanted to get a better view of the Allegheny River below. The look on her face and the tone of her voice suggested otherwise to Tumpane, a major league baseball umpire in town to work the series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Tampa Bay Rays.

So the 34-year-old Tumpane reached for the woman even as she urged him to let her go.